Tuesday, December 12, 2017

For those of you who don't know, Jerry and I own a medical equipment company called Family Medical Supply. We have two locations: Oklahoma City and Kingston, OK.

Our lunch for OKC was last week, and we just had our lunch for the Kingston location today. The weather was lovely, and we had great food (except for one dessert -- see below) and great fun.

FIRST, here is a picture of Jerry and me and all of our Oklahoma City employees from last week. I will list their names because our employees at one store only know names from the other store.

In the back from left to right:
Tim, Mark, Bill, Lu, John, Sharon and Kathy (Sorry Kathy is kind of squished in there.)
In the front from left to right:
Paula, Kodi, Misty, Sheila, Phylly, Carol and Diane

Do you see Phylly, the one who resigned a few month ago?
And right next to her in the red jacket and scarf is Carol. She has resigned several times.
They both still come to work, and we couldn't be happier about it!

Some of the employees above have been with us over TEN YEARS. Jerry and I don't work at that location, so I don't even know what the girls do anymore. Lu -- the tall lady in the back -- is the Store Manager, and she has so much work to do, I don't know how she stands it. She does the hiring, the training, the job descriptions, the reviews, prepares for accreditation and does a ton of computer input and paperwork and she knows everyone else's job. I'll ask Jerry about something, and he will say, "Ask Lu like I do. She knows everything." I honestly don't know HOW she does it, but we sure do love her for it.

I'm pretty sure that Paula has been with us the longest. She has quit before too. Thank God she came back. She drives a very long way every day to and from work, and we are so very thankful for her dedication.

Next to Paula is Kodi. She has been with us over 11 years, and I think the next longest time. We hired her part time to clean. She kept offering to do other stuff, and now she is a super salesgirl on the showroom floor. Everybody adores Kodi. People that quit years ago still call her.

John is our ATP (like Jerry). Bill is the Service Manager over the other two guys: Mark and Tim.

You all probably recall that Phylly and I are quilting/sewing/fitting friends and actually the reason I started this BLOG. The other girls were all hired by Lu, and I don't know them very well. I know they all get along great, and they all love Lu.

I'm sure you are all terribly interested in our food, so I had to snap some pics for you.

This is an AWESOME appetizer we always order at Zio's. I have no idea what is in it, but we all love it. I know it has bacon and cheese.

And THIS is why I like to go to Zio's. Their apple pie is DELISHUS!!! and it comes with ice cream on top and a hot brandy sauce. Thank God I don't know how to make it! Phylly and I always share, so only ate half.

The Kingston lunch was at Roma's. Also an Italian restaurant. It is in Durant, OK. We had a great set of tables for our group and a very good waitress.

Here we are.
In the back from left to right are Tim, Ronny, John, Lu Ann, Pat and Peggy
Behind me and Jerry from left to right are: Maurissa, JJ and Larece

Tim is Service Manager and Ronny works for him.
John is the ATP we hired from Nevada.
Lu Ann works on the sales floor with JJ.
Pat is our Advantage Specialist who makes sure all our customers receive the right product on the right day. She resigned many years ago, but still keeps coming to work.
JJ does all the billing for what Pat does.
Peggy is "Jane of All Trades", and she does whatever any of us need her to do INCLUDING watching my Mom for me if I need her to.
Maurissa is my Administrative Assistant and you'll read more about her below.
Larece works for Jerry and John and you'll read more about her below.

And, of course, I had to take some pics of our food. Only desserts though.

Pat took the first bite of her cheesecake and just squealed with delight at how yummy it was. I asked her to please pose so I could take a pic, and she did.

And this is cheesecake again with a different topping. Maurissa is posing for this one.

I ordered the same thing as Maurissa is holding up here, but I complained that mine didn't have much sauce on top. The guy who brought it just walked off like I had not spoken. I thought it was just as well since there are still about two million calories there! A few minutes later though, the guy showed up with the sauce bottle and he squirt it all over my cheesecake. Now THAT is service!

The next picture is of Larece. Larece is Jerry's "right arm". She gets all the ducks in a row -- and there are a LOT of ducks -- so we can get paid for what we do. She is holding up her "wooden" Cannoli. She ate the stuffing out of it and then tried to eat the pastry. We saw her KNOCKING on it with her knife, and we all cracked up laughing. She didn't even try to bite into it. What a shame. All the other desserts were SO GOOD!

The following picture is of me and the most precious lady that God put into Family Medical Supply before I ever came back to work there. Someone else hired her. She worked out front at first, on the sales floor. I would see her when I went into the store, but she was always very quiet, and she acted like she was terrified of me. I think she was at that time.

When I did go back to work due to the former office manager quitting without notice after a long sick leave, I HAD to have help. Everyone was so very busy, including Maurissa, that I hated to ask anyone for help. But whenever I had a question, or I needed assistance, or I needed someone to take on an extra duty, there she was asking if there was anything she could do to help me. She has been a wonderful blessing to me, and she has become my personal assistant. She is a super fast learner, and she will do anything I ask her to do, and a bunch of stuff I didn't even ask her to do.

Maurissa told me one time that I was NOTHING like she thought I was going to be. And she meant it in a good way. Jerry and I thank God daily for all of our employees, but I am especially thankful for Maurissa because she and I work fabulously together.

So that is all of our employees. They are really an extended family to us, and we love them all.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

I hope this is not inappropriate, but I was wondering if any of you lovely people would want to send my Mom a birthday card. Corrected at 2 AM. Decided to just buy her several cards myself -- one from Jerry, one from me, one from her cat, etc. Since I am awake, I went in to check on Mom. Her lamp was on and she was sitting on the side of her bed putting her watch on. She also had her glasses on. I removed her glasses, but I left her watch on, and I helped her back into bed.

Mom has taken a turn for the worse. Her memory isn't even seconds long. She has forgotten so many more things. She even forgets to eat while sitting in front of her dinner. We have to prod her. Thank God, she has not forgotten me!

HOWEVER, the one thing she does remember is that it is near her birthday, and that she is going to be 90.

Whenever I take Mom with me anywhere, such as my doctor appointment a few weeks ago, she always does the same thing. She will notice a new person in the room -- doctor, hairdresser, friend -- and she will turn to me and say:"Joy, did you tell her that I am going to have a birthday soon?""And did you tell her that I am going to be 90!"

It is so cute. Just like a young child. She asked me yesterday if I was going to do anything for her birthday. So I KNOW she hasn't forgotten that her birthday is December 18, and she is going to be 90.

As you know if you watch my videos, my Mother has three other children. None of them will come to see her for her birthday or any other occasion. One says it is "too far" (3-hour drive). One says he is "too busy". One says she has disowned me, and she is no longer my sister, so I guess Mom is no longer her Mother either. I have no way of contacting her directly. She does know where Mom is, and she does know that Mom's kids are welcome here because I had my brother tell her.

Thank God there are people here who love her and will come see her for her birthday, including two friends who will gladly make the 3-hour drive.

It is Sunday afternoon, and I am going to start wrapping the many new sweatshirts I bought for her. THANK YOU so much to the ladies who told me about Younker's and Bergman's. Weird names, but they had the perfect shirts for her. I think I bought 7 of them.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

One holiday is past and Christmas is right around the corner. Goodness! It comes faster every year. I have been busy, but have not felt really good for weeks. Remember the nights I wasn't sleeping? Well, I didn't sleep the last two nights. Went through three boxes of Kleenex in ONE DAY!

You don't believe me?

I took a picture to show the doctor today because I know it sounds insane to go through hundreds of Kleenex/Puffs a day. She was actually a Nurse Practitioner. I showed her these pictures, and she gasped!

This is my floor after ONE NIGHT of no sleep. Notice the empty box of tissues on my nightstand. There was another one on the bed. I used to put a trash can there, but I always missed it and the tissues were all over the floor anyway. So now, I just gather them up in the morning along with the empty tissue boxes.

This is what I threw away this morning. FOUR boxes. Notice that one is stuffed full of used tissues.

And when I wake up, I come out to my blue chair. Same story here. This is from this morning just before my lightning fast mind decided this has to be MORE THAN ALLERGIES! It has been going on for weeks. Thank God I was able to get into someone today.

I took a shower, and I fixed my hair, and I put on a little mascara and some jeans and a top. I knew I felt like crap, but evidently, I LOOKED like it too!

I had walked into the medical clinic with my Mom. I walked her over to the waiting area and sat her down. Then I walked back to stand in line to wait for one of the five windows to open up, which wasn't likely to be too soon since only two were occupied. As I was standing there -- first in line -- other people lined up behind me. Directly behind me was a young woman and her little boy. I turned to see who was behind me, and she looked at me and said,

"Can I help you to a seat Ma'am? I will let you know when a window is ready."

I thought, "Dear Lord!, I must look worse than my Mother!!!" People USUALLY offer to help her, not me.

Finally, Mom and I were directed back to Megan somebody's office. She was SO YOUNG! They all are when you are this old. She was very sweet. As I said above, I showed her the pictures I took on my phone, and she gasped.

She said both my ears were full of water and I had a fever. She put her ear thing up my nose and she winced and said, "Oh my!, you must be miserable."

So I have drugs now.

An antibiotic which may or may not break me out in hives at which point I am to discontinue it immediately!

She also gave me a steroid for all the inflammation. It has really helped already.

So that has been THIS DAY,
but I have to show you pictures of YESTERDAY when God's latest gift to our family and his mother came to visit me.

Yes, I was sick, but I was careful not to breathe on Luke, and I washed my hands constantly. I thought it was allergies.

I probably took 50 or more pictures, but I will only share a few with you.

I put my Terry quilt on the floor for him to put him AWAY from my face just in case I had something he shouldn't have.

Otherwise, I would have held him the whole time.

He is SO ADORABLE!

I'm going to do something tomorrow, I hope, because I have a sitter for my Mom. I want to do some Christmas shopping although I have NO IDEA what to get anyone. Everyone may be getting gift cards. I notice them everywhere these days.

Gotta go check on Mom.

NO! WAIT!!!

I have another real fun thing to show you that my friend, Shari Marie, has been up to:

Shari Marie was INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPING each cookie for a Craft Fair at a local senior living home. She said she had been working on them for three days. They LOOK like it! If there really was a Santa, I would want THOSE under my tree. I told her she needs to open a bakery.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Our new sitter here in Edmond was able to stay with Mom for four hours today, so I had the GREAT PLEASURE of meeting my friend, Margaret, for a Steak lunch at Longhorn. We talked for an hour and a half, so I didn't have much time for anything else. Four hours goes by really fast!

In the time I did have, I went to JC Penneys which was right in the same parking lot as Longhorn.

I was looking for sweatshirt tops for my Mom which I never found, but I happened to walk by my favorite tennis shoes in the shoe department. I did not have a pair here at this house, so decided to by a pair of white and a pair of black. Then I walked over to the check out counter where there were two cash registers.

If I had not left my phone in the car I would have taken a video of this. The counter was stacked with boxes and various unboxed shoes so there was not a single square inch to put my boxes. I tried to balance them on top of one of the registers. Then I started looking for a cashier.

I turned around and around and looked and looked, and then I started saying, "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, HELLOOOOOOOOOOO, HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?"

Nobody answered and nobody came.

I then walked out into the aisle between the shoes and the clothes, and I said, "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, HELLOOOOOOO? I need a cashier please. HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

Nobody answered and nobody came.

I walked back over to the shoe counter where there was still nobody. I hollered back into the two openings into the warehouse, "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?"

I really needed the shoes or I would have stacked them with all the other shoes that people had given up on purchasing and just stacked there.

I then walked BEHIND the counter and through the door into the warehouse. I didn't see anybody there either, so I continued, "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, IS ANYONE THERE?"

Finally, a girl started moving back in the midst of the shelves, and she came to where I was. She followed me to the cash registers. She went to the first register to check me out. She messed with it a minute, and then she said, "These registers don't work. We have to go to a different department."

I then followed her to the Beauty Shop where I was finally able to buy the two pair of tennis shoes.

UNBELIEVABLE! I promise you, it happened just like that. No exaggeration. I actually probably hollered "HELLO" 50 times!

I then went to a different department to look at jeans. I found a pair immediately and went to try them on. Where there used to be a long row of nice dressing rooms, there was now a large cubby hole with a mirror on the wall. I said, "I'm not going to try these on without any doors!"

I wandered the length of the store to another dressing room. Then I went to the checkout counter in that department only to find the cashier staring over and over and over and over at a receipt trying to figure out how to do a return. I put the jeans down, and I walked out of the store.

How very sad. NO WONDER they are closing stores and barely getting by. I would have spent hundreds of dollars there today if there had been half-way decent service and proper dressing rooms.

I've made a couple new videos for those of you who don't see them unless I post them here.

This one is an introduction to our precious new great grandbaby, Luke:

I have not seen Luke since that day, and doesn't look like I will see him again in the three weeks I am here. I thought they would need my help so I came up for several weeks, but it turns out that Lauren's family is coming to visit them.

So, since I have a lot of time on my hands, I am thinking Christmas. Doesn't appear our Christmas is going to be anymore exciting than our Thanksgiving. Just the three of us. I want to get or make gifts for my good friends, my husband and my Mother. I may get started on that tomorrow.

Made a video today just blabbering about the cat and Thanksgiving and a pumpkin potholder if you are interested in any of that.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Hope you all know about my VLOGs on Facebook. It is where I hang out when I'm not here at Blogger.

Here is my latest VLOG, just done yesterday, 11-8-17:

And while I was looking at all the comments regarding my major lack of sleep, I noticed a new video from the Houston Quilt Festival.

It is loooooooooong, but very fun to watch if you are a quilter.

Here it is:

And for those of you who may have watched my previous VLOG about "the lady" from Missouri Quilt Company, THERE SHE IS standing next to Angela Walters. Her name is Jenny Doan. These two ladies are naturals in front of a camera, and I enjoy them both very much.

And here is the "previous" VLOG I referred to:

My new baby, Luke, still has not made an appearance. I'm beginning to think he will show up on Thanksgiving Day because his Daddy was born on July 4th. Whatever day God decides will be the perfect time!

Pastor Leon is due any moment to visit my Mother. I think I hear him now. I need to run downstairs to say "hi".

Friday, October 13, 2017

Hello my friends. Hope your Friday the 13th was a nice one. Mine was very nice with a heavy blow in the middle and then a lovely surprise.

Kind of like a roller coaster ride.

I left Kingston about 10:15 this morning with my Mom. Had to put some gas in my very low tank and then wash my extremely dirty car, and then head to our Edmond home. It was a happy, fun, relaxing ride with Mom. She does so very well 95% of the time. She was so sweet today, I enjoyed being with her very much.

We stopped half way for lunch at Braum's. She had her usual children-size chicken nuggets and a tiny pack of fries. She loved it, and there were no complaints.

As I was standing at the drink counter, a nice younger lady was standing there waiting next to me. For SOME STRANGE REASON I mentioned to her that I had ordered my 89-year old Mom a child's meal. She responded that she knew exactly what I was talking about, because her Mom and Dad always ordered the kid's meal too. Her Dad had dementia and just recently passed away. I told her that was a blessing as long as he was ready to go. She said that he was a Christian, and he was very ready to go.

Isn't it fun how two complete strangers will strike up a conversation and have something very much in common?

We left and had a very pleasant ride for the next hour. We arrived at our home, and I ushered Mom into the house. THAT is when things got a bit bumpy.

My Mom was quite confused and wanted to know where her room was and where her bathroom was and where her toothbrush was and where her fingernail file was -- and I handed her one -- and she said, "NO! Not that one!" -- and she wanted to know where her clothes were going to be and how she was going to find them and where were her slippers, and on and on and on ........

I was very patient with her because I have learned to be patient and loving because SHE CAN'T HELP IT. After about an hour, she started to settle in, and she unpacked all of her things and put them away in her dresser and bathroom drawers.

I had asked for a family member to come help me this afternoon for a few hours so I could have some time to run and get some groceries for this house. I was given a very pleasant reply of, "Sure, I have the ENTIRE day free."

Turned out, my request was taken as a major imposition.

That was the "heavy blow" part of the ride.

I received a very nasty message about how awful my Mom is, and that I should not expect anyone to show up here to help me with her -- and if they do, I should be grateful -- even if they can't come when they told me they would be here, and even if they don't tell me that.

It is the HARDEST thing for me to understand. WHY can't people be CONSIDERATE of each other? Especially, a family member. A nice call or text explaining that something came up and they will be arriving at whatever time -- or not -- would have been so acceptable and understandable. She texted she couldn't come when I needed her, but "soon". "Soon" means different things to different people. My husband's "soon" could be three days! I was just trying to get something done before a 4:00 appointment, and I had very little time to do it.

So my heart was hurt and I felt like a complete failure -- AGAIN! -- and I decided that it is just me and my Mom against the world. Boo hoo hoo. Pity party time.

BUT THEN...

Don't you just LOVE the "BUT THEN's"!

I was in and out from the car to the kitchen and the bedrooms 50 times bringing things in from the car. Every time I came in, my Mom had a question about something. She doesn't mean to be a pest, but sometimes, she just is. Her brain doesn't fire right these days, and her memory doesn't exist. She can't help it, and I tell myself that a thousand times a day.

"Be PATIENT, Joy, be PATIENT!" There, but for the grace of God, go I!

So on one of my many trips to put something away, I heard something at the front door. I thought, "Oh, No! I hope Mom hasn't gone outside!"

I went to the front door to see, and there was a box on the front porch from the mailman. My new internet friend, Shari Marie, had asked for my mailing address, so I figured it must be from her. I quickly opened the door and scooped up the box.

Shari Marie had mentioned to me a few days ago that she was PRACTICING making frosted cookies for some affair coming up. I jokingly (sort of) mentioned that I LOVE frosted cookies, and she could send the rejects to me.

WELL, guess what????

She really did send them!

HOWEVER, they are FAR from being rejects. They look like they are from a fancy bakery. I took a picture so you can see.

The flower is NOT BROKEN. I had already started nibbling on it before I thought to snap a photo.

So, of course, being a really good friend, I texted Shari Marie that she should definitely keep practicing because these disappeared way too fast, and to keep sending the rejects.

Shari Marie also sent something she made for my new baby, Luke, but I haven't opened it. I want Lauren to see how it was sent. I am sure it is darling, and I will show you soon what it is.

The only other time I have ever gotten cookies in the mail was when my friend, Jolene, sent them to me after a surgical procedure I had done. It is the MOST marvelous gift. I froze the ones Jolene sent and took one out of the freezer "as needed" for medicinal purposes only.

I'll be back soon with news about the new Home Care Assistance company I have hired here in Edmond. They are sending a lady named Noella to sit with Mom next week while I am away at the B-Sew Inn classes. She is 20 something and has worked for this company three years. I hope we love her like we love Dorine in Kingston. I told Dorine this morning that I wished she could just come up here with us. She said, "Maybe someday."

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